A Post-colonialism Interpretation Of Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe(1660-1731) was a famous English novelist in the 18 th century. His masterpiece named Robinson Crusoe has a great influence back then in the United Kingdom. It has a great influence on the literature and the writers in the literary world. Written in a diary form, it is the first realistic novel in the UK, and it is the beginning of the English novel, and therefore Daniel Defoe was called the “Father of Fiction in modern Britain”. Since Robinson Crusoe came out, it has been closely watched by Eastern and Western scholars. The analyses and interpretations of the text have been done at different levels, and scholars expressed their views, most notably, Edward Said, the post-colonialism theory representative, in his first masterpiece, Orientalism, elaborated discourse power. He pointed out that the power of discourse is the European cultural hegemony of the product. Cultural Hegemony is a non-violent means of cultural penetration to influence the reader, and then let the reader’s own thoughts and ideas to be recognized by the author’s ideas, and to be accepted by the author’s own theories, and thus could be assimilated. It also presents a way of thinking. This approach is based on the binary opposition, which is used to control by the West used to rebuild the East. During the 18 th century, with the rising of the western economies, overseas colonial expansion is also increasing. In the eyes of the westerners, the East is always backward, poor, ignorant, wild, equivalent to slavery. The West can rule them and put them into its own colony. Tomlinson’s post-colonialism theory of cultural imperialism, Homi Bhabha’s cultural hegemony, cultural infiltration, are the important components of the post-colonial theory. Based on post-colonialism, this paper applies the following concepts to the analysis of Robinson Crusoe from the post-colonialism theory, namely, the identity of self and of otherness, knowledge and power, cultural imperialism, cultural infiltration, cultural hegemony and so on. Therefore, I show my own analysis and interpretation of the text.This paper is divided into six parts: The introduction provides an overview of the author Daniel Defoe’s life and major works, and summarizes the history and current status of research at home and abroad of Daniel Defoe’s works. The first chapter describes the post-colonialism theory, its characteristics, and its meanings. The second chapter describes the characteristics of post-colonialism in Robinson Crusoe. Chapter three focuses on Robinson cultural penetration and Friday transformation. Chapter four analyzes Robinson island empire building and its colonial rule. Chapter five discusses Robinson’s colonial thoughts and Daniel Defoe’s colonial ideology in the works.Through the adventure of a desert island of Robinson, the identity of self, the identity of his knowledge, and the attitude towards his own culture, cultural infiltration and cultural transformation, the formation of the island empire, the accumulation of wealth in the island, comparison of Eastern and Western cultures, of East and West, as well as the interpretation of the author’s colonial thoughts. Through the interpretation of the text, we can understand the nature of Western colonialism in the era of peace, but also be caution of the Western countries’ ulterior motives and cultural infiltration, cultural erosion, and enhance awakening of the subject consciousness and increase the cultivation of patriotism. During the tide of reform and opening up we should avoid people’s thought being poisoned by the western culture thoughts, and learn western good spiritual food, and develop and maintain our own nation’s unique culture.